Banff is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Banff is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Banff is a former royal burgh, as well as is the county town of the historical area of Banffshire. Banff's very first castle was developed to repel Viking invaders and also a charter of 1163 AD reveals that Malcolm IV was living there at that time. During this period the community was an active trading centre in the "complimentary hanse" of Northern Scottish burghs, regardless of not having its own harbour until 1775. The very first documented Sheriff of Banff was Richard de Strathewan in 1264, as well as in 1372 Royal Burgh condition was conferred by King Robert II. By the 15th century Banff was among three primary communities exporting salmon to the continent of Europe, in addition to Aberdeen as well as Montrose. There was a large amount of lawlessness in seventeenth-century Scotland, and also some of the most awful wrongdoers were members of the nobility. According to records maintained by historian William Cramond, the tolbooth (courthouse as well as jail) of Banff was, in 1628, the site of a run-in between Lord Banff and James Ogilvie, his relative. Reportedly, he struck James Ogilvie upon the head with a baton during a court hearing. Twenty of his close friends and also followers after that struck Ogilvie with swords before chasing him right into the street and finishing him off with a handgun shot. Banff as well as Macduff are divided by the valley of the River Deveron. This unpredictable river was ultimately subjugated by the seven curved bridge completed in 1779 by John Smeaton. An earlier bridge had been integrated in 1765, however was swept away in 1768. The old ferryboat was restored into usage, until it was lost in a flood in 1773. A public conference was held in 1800 and passed a resolution for the structure of a turnpike road between Turiff as well as Banff as the existing road remained in an unfortunate state of repair work. Later on 19th century transportation enhancements included the structure of two train lines, from Macduff to Turiff in 1860 and also the Banff, Portsoy as well as Strathisla Railway in 1859 which connected to the main Aberdeen to Inverness line. During the 19th Century the Banff Fishery Area (consisting of the ports from Crovie to Sandend) was very important to the herring profession, with production coming to a head in 1853 at greater than sixty-thousand barrels, of which virtually thirty-four thousand were exported, nevertheless by 1912 manufacturing had actually declined to simply over 8 thousand barrels. Presently, the languages talked in the town and also in its area have a tendency to be the Doric dialect of Scots, and also English.